Can GPT-5 fix Apple Intelligence? We’re about to find out

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

ZDNET’s Key takeaways:

• Apple Intelligence will be upgraded with GPT-5. 
• GPT-5 is OpenAI’s recently launched most capable model.
• Users will be able to access GPT-5 in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26. 

OpenAI released GPT-5 on Thursday, saying it’s the company’s most capable, smartest, and fastest model to date. While everyone, including free users, can access the model for free today via ChatGPT, Apple device users will be able to try it out even more easily. 

Apple’s first foray into the AI race was the launch of Apple Intelligence in 2024. Taking its time to enter the AI space, the company took a different approach from competitors, forgoing the release of its own AI models and choosing to use OpenAI’s instead via an integration with ChatGPT. Soon, that integration will use GPT-5. 

Also: 3 Apple Intelligence features that would convince me to ditch Gemini and ChatGPT

Apple confirmed to me that the iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and MacOS 26 operating systems, which are slated to launch in the fall, will be accompanied by GPT-5. Currently, with the existing ChatGPT integration, Apple users have the option to send Siri queries to ChatGPT instead if they’re better suited for the chatbot’s capabilities. 

Other integrations are ChatGPT with Writing Tools, which uses the chatbot to compose text or images in different areas of the interface, and ChatGPT with Visual Intelligence, which leverages ChatGPT’s multimodal capabilities to give users insights into their surroundings. Because of the update, all of the aforementioned functionalities should give users better answers. 

For example, at launch, OpenAI claimed GPT-5 is its most capable writing collaborator, which should improve users’ output when using Writing Tools to compose emails, texts, and more. The model is also more accurate than any previous reasoning model and has fewer hallucinations. GPT-5’s responses are 45% less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o with web search enabled on anonymized prompts, according to OpenAI. 

Also: This free GPT-5 feature is flying under the radar – but it’s a game changer for me

GPT-5’s biggest appeal is that it is a unified model that combines a smart model for most queries with a deeper reasoning model for harder problems. Then it uses a real router feature that allows GPT-5 to understand which model to use automatically based on the conversation, complexity of the prompt, and more. This allows users to take advantage of the best OpenAI’s models have to offer in terms of quality and speed. 

Now, Apple users should be able to experience the same thing natively, which should, in theory, improve the Apple Intelligence experience as a whole. Do I think it will make a big change? No, only because I don’t know many Apple users who rely on ChatGPT integrations very often. However, it is nice knowing that even when you do reach for the features once in a while, they will be reportedly state of the art. 

I am more excited about the many iOS 26 AI features that have been announced and are slated to be released. While less flashy, they are bound to improve the user experience. Some favorites include the Visual Intelligence expansion to the iPhone screen, real-time translation on FaceTime and Messages, and AutoMix in Apple Music.

Also: I used Perplexity to make a restaurant reservation – now I’m wondering if Google is holding us back

If you can’t wait to get started with GPT-5 and want to try it out for yourself, you can do so simply by visiting the ChatGPT website or app and signing in to your account. If you don’t have one, creating one is easy — just use Google, Microsoft, Apple, or even your phone number. Once you’re signed in, the model picker will automatically be set to GPT-5.